PAPIER MACHÉ. This is a substance made of cuttings of white or brown paper, boiled in water, and beaten in a mortar, till they are reduced into a kind of paste, and then boiled with a solution of gum arabic or of size, to give tenacity to the paste, which is afterwards formed into different toys, &c. by pressing it into oiled moulds. When dry, it is done over with a mixture of size and lamp-black, and afterwards varnished. The black varnish for these toys, according to Dr Lewis, is prepared as follows: Some colophony, or turpentine boiled down till it becomes black and friable, is melted in a glazed earthen-veasel, and thrice as much amber in fine powder sprinkled in by degrees, with the addition of a little spirit or oil of turpentine now and then: when the amber is melted, sprinkle in the same quantity of farcocolla, continuing to stir them, and to add more spirit of turpentine, till the whole becomes fluid; then strain out the clear through a coarse hair-bag, pressing it gently between hot boards. This varnish, mixed with ivory-black in fine powder, is applied, in a hot room, on the dried paper-paste; which is then set in a gently heated oven, next day in a hotter oven, and the third day in
a very hot one, and let stand each time till the oven grows cold. The paste thus varnished is hard, durable, glossy, and bears liquors hot or cold.